Bowling game amusement device

ABSTRACT

A bowling game amusement device featuring a mechanism for permitting the user to load the pins in their proper position and raise same to the level of the alley, a mechanism for retrieving the balls and a movable bowler provided with a spring-biassed arm and means for releasing same to propel the ball.

United States Patent" [191 Maeda [451 Sept. 4, 1973 BOWLING GAME AMUSEMENT DEVICE [75] Inventor: Taketora Maeda, Tokyo, Japan [73] Assignee: Epoch Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan 221 Filed: Nov. 8, 1971 211 Appl.No.: 196,650

511 lm. Cl. A63d 3/02, A63d 5/08 58 Field of Search 273/38, 42 R, 122R, 273/122 A, 46, 43 R f 56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,248,316 7/1941 Weber 273/38 1,320,370 11/1919 Barrett..... 273/43 R 1,564,054 12/1925 Fisher 273/42 R 1/1941 MacDougall et a1. 273/122 A X 2,230,064 2,289,421 7/1942 Grieshaber et al. 273/38 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 65,585 4/1950 Netherlands 273/122 R Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Attorney-Staas, Halsey & Gable [57] ABSTRACT A bowling game amusement device featuring a mechanism for permitting the user to load the pins in their proper position and raise same to the level of the alley, a mechanism for retrieving the balls and-a movable bowler provided with a spring-biassed arm and means for releasing same to propel the ball.

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEBSEP ,4 Ian SHEU 3 OF 5 r7 r m E..

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lllll sfrsslssa PATENTEBSH 4 ma SHEET 5 0F 5 BOWLING GAME AMUSEMENT DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the general class of games simulating popular sports, particularly bowling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention concerns a bowling game amusement device characterized by its sturdy construction and ease of use. The alley is provided with openings within which the pins are dropped. Thereafter, by simply rotating an attractive cover each of the pins is moved upwardly into position along the surface of the alley. The bowler is provided with a spring-biassed arm which is easily cocked into position. A bowling ball is retrieved by pushing an automatic ejecter mechanism. The ball is then positioned in front of the cocked arm of the bowler. The bowler may be positioned at any desired point behind the baseline. Thereafter, a button is depressed releasing the bowlers arm propelling the ball down the alley. When it is desired to remove pins from the alley, the casing is rotated lowering the pins below the surface of the alley at which time fallen pins are easily removed. By rotating. the cover in reverse, the pins are again raised to the surface of the alley and the bowling game continued.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bowling gameamusement device;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the bowling game amusement device;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the bowler with the cocking and releasing mechanism shown in cross section;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the mechanism for raising and lowering the pins and the position of the rotatable cover when the pins are in raised position during bowling;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the position of the rotatable cover when the pins are in lowered position;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5 illustrating the bottom of the game;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the rotatable cover and the mechanism for raising and lowering the pins;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the mechanism for retrieving the balls; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the I mechanism for raising the balls to the upper platform adjacent the bowler.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The bowling game amusement device is designated.

generally by reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1 and includes the bowler 12 mounted for movement along the alley 14 formed at the top of the cabinet or stand 16. At the other end of the alley 14 is the rotatable cover 18, the operation of which will be described in detail hereinafter, positioned over the pins 20. To the'right side of the bowler l2 and at the end of an alley formed below the playing surface 14 is located the ball retrieving device 22.

The. apparatus for raising and lowering the pins will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5-8. The reference numeral 26 designates a supporting member appropriately mounted within the cabinet 16. Shafts 28 and 30 are joumaled within supporting member 26 as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 7. At each end of shaft 28 is mounted quarter gear wheel 32 while at each end of shaft 30 is mounted a complete gear wheel 34. As seen in FIG. 5, gear wheels 32 and 34 meshwith each other.

A triangular shaped member 36, as seen in FIG. 7, is positioned around the generally cylindrical supports 38 formed below the surface of the alley 14. Member 36 includes cross-bars 40 passing through slots 42 contained within the sides of supports 38. Positioned along the top of cross-bars 40 are a plurality of supports 44 upon which the pins 20 rest. Mounted medially of member 36 is depending section 46 containing at each end thereof a rack 48 meshing with the gear wheels 34. Each of the racks 48 is positioned about a shoulder 50 formed as a part of the supporting member 26 thus permitting the racks 48 and the entire member 36 attached thereto to move upwardly and downwardly in a rectilinear path when rotated by gear wheels 34 which in turn are rotated by gear wheels 32 formed as an integral part of the cover 18.

The operation of the apparatus for raising and lowering the pins 20 will now be described. When it is desired to lower the supports 44 upon which the pins 20 rest, the cover 18 is rotated from that position illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 8 to that position illustrated in FIG. 6. The rotation of cover 18 counterclockwise through approximately 90 causes gear wheels 34 to rotate clockwise causing racks 48 to move downwardly in turn lowering the triangular shaped member 36 and supports 44. When the supports 44 are in their lowered position illustrated in FIG. 6 it is easy to sweep the alley 14 of any of the pins 20 that may have been knocked down. Also, the fallen pins may easily be loaded within each of the cylindrical supports 38. As the cover 18 is rotated clockwise the action of the gears reverses and the supporting surfaces 44 are raised to that position illustrated in FIG. 5.

The ball retrieving device 22 generally illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 will now be described wherein the reference numeral 52 designates the ball while the reference numeral 54 designates the gutter formed at one side of the alley 14. A brace 56'is suitably attached to the bottom 58 of the alley l4 and comprises spaced legs 60, 62 and 64. The ends of legs 62and 64 are pivotably connected to actuating rod 66 by pins 68 and 70 while a spring 71 connects the end of the first leg 60 through pin 72 to the mid section of actuating rod 66 at opening 74. The remaining end of the actuating rod 66 is proit can be seen that the ball 52 eventually moves to the position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 9 resting upon supporting surface 76 and wall 84. Thereafter, the user depresses'button 78 moving the third rod 64 down-' wardly to the position illustrated in FIG. 10 causing the supporting surface 76 to be raised upwardly as the actuating member 66 pivots about pin 70 against the force of spring 71. Thus, the ball 52 is pushed upwardly from the position illustrated in FIGv 9 to the position illustrated in FIG. 10 moving horizontally along the bottom of the ball storage area 86. Thereafter, the user picks up a ball and positions it for use by the bowler 12.

The bowler 12 will now be described. As seen in FIG. 4, the right arm 88 of the bowler 12 is normally biassed in the forward position illustrated in solid lines by the force of a spring 90 mounted within the torso and arm thereof. Before the ball 52 is placed in position, the right arm 88 is moved backward to the position illustrated in dotted lines at which time the hand 92 rests against a lever 94 biassed in a forward position by a spring 96. The ball 52 is then positioned in place. Thereafter, the user takes aim by moving the bowler 12 which is mounted on a plate 98 which in turn is provided with a rod 100 mounted to slide within a slot 102 formed in the alley 14. The button 104 is then depressed rotating lever 94 counterclockwise releasing the right arm 88 propelling the ball 52 forward.

I claim:

1. A toy bowling game, comprising;

a casing provided with a flat surface;

a plurality of openings provided in said surface at one end of said casing;

at least two walls extending downwardly from said surface along the periphery of each of said openings within which pins may pass, said walls being spaced apart to define a gap therebetween;

a frame, a plurality of supports upon which the pins may rest, said supports mounted at the top of said frame, means mounting said frame within said casing for reciprocating movement such that said supports may move vertically between said walls from positions at the level of said flat surface to positions therebelow, said top of said frame permitted to move vertically within said gaps defined by the spaces between said walls, said frame being provided with a rack;

a cover, means mounting said cover to rotate with respect to said casing between a first position overlying said supports and a second position to the side thereof, said cover further being provided at the bottom thereof with a rack; and

a gear, means mounting said gear within said casing for rotation, said gear engaging said racks of said frame and said cover such that rotation of said cover moves said frame.

2. A bowling game as in claim 1, including a gutter formed in said casing running from the area adjacent said openings to an end of said casing opposite said openings and means for retrieving balls from said gutter and depositing same on said flat surface of said casing.

3. A bowling game as in claim 2, said means for retrieving, raising and depositing said balls comprising an actuating rod, means rotatably mounting said rod within said casing, said rod being provided at one end with a surface generally complementary in configuration with respect to the balls and positioned below said gutter and means lowering the other end of said rod raising said surface forcing said balls upward.

4. A bowling game as in claim 1 including a bowler figure mounted on said casing and comprising a torso, an arm, means normally biasing said arm forward, means latching said arm in the rearward position wherein a ball may be positioned and means releasing said arm propelling the ball forward.

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1. A toy bowling game, comprising; a casing provided with a flat surface; a plurality of openings provided in said surface at one end of said casing; at least two walls extending downwardly from said surface along the periphery of each of said openings within which pins may pass, said walls being spaced apart to define a gap therebetween; a frame, a plurality of supports upon which the pins may rest, said supports mounted at the top of said frame, means mounting said frame within said casing for reciprocating movement such that said supports may move vertically between said walls from positions at the level of said flat surface to positions therebelow, said top of said frame permitted to move vertically within said gaps defined by the spaces between said walls, said frame being provided with a rack; a cover, means mounting said cover to rotate with respect to said casing between a first position overlying said supports and a second position to the side thereof, said cover further being provided at the bottom thereof with a rack; and a gear, means mounting said gear within said casing for rotation, said gear engaging said racks of said frame and said cover such that rotation of said cover moves said frame.
 2. A bowling game as in claim 1, including a gutter formed in said casing running from the area adjacent said openings to an end of said casing opposite said openings and means for retrieving balls from said gutter and depositing same on said flat surface of said casing.
 3. A bowling game as in claim 2, said means for retrieving, raising and depositing said balls comprising an actuating rod, means rotatably mounting said rod within said casing, said rod being provided at one end with a surface generally complementary in configuration with respect to the balls and positioned below said gutter and means lowering the other end of said rod raising said surface forcing said balls upward.
 4. A bowling game as in claim 1 including a bowler figure mounted on said casing and comprising a torso, an arm, means normally biasing said arm forward, means latching said arm in the rearward position wherein a ball may be positioned and means releasing said arm propelling the ball forward. 